Woman thought to be dead is still alive

A woman who disappeared 31 years ago in Germany and was registered dead after a man confessed to her murder, was found two weeks ago living in Dusseldorf, the International Business Times reported.

In 1984, Petra Pazsitka, a 24-year-old computer science student, failed to show up at her brother’s birthday celebration, setting off a massive police search. Pazsitka was living in student housing at the time in the German city of Braunschweig.

Detectives elicited help from a popular German crime show called “Aktenzeichen XY,” and later a suspect in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl confessed to killing Pazsitka, according to NBC News.

Pazsitka’s body was never found, and the case was closed in 1989.

But things changed two weeks ago when a woman who called herself “Mrs. Schneider” summoned police in Dusseldorf, Germany, to report a burglary.

When police arrived and requested ID from the 55-year-old woman to complete the report, she revealed herself to be Pazsitka, and produced an expired identification card to prove she was the missing student, IBTimes reported.

Pazsitka then confessed to cops that she had devised a plan to move into an apartment she had been secretly renting and had saved 20,000 euros ($22,000) to create a new life.

A spokesperson for Braunschweig and Wolfsburg Police reportedly said: “As to the motive of her disappearance, she gave no explanation and expressly said that she continues to want no contact with the public or her family.”